There is a long history of how music videos have developed and this can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video. - Below I have written about the history and development of music videos but in a smaller amount of detail than in the above link.
A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music or song. They use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries and non-narrative approaches. Some blend different styles such as animation and live action. Modern music videos are primarily made as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.
1894 was the first time images and music were linked together. Various performers promoted sales of their songs with live performance in what became a popular form of entertainment known as illustrated song. This was the projection of still images on a screen simultaneously with live performances.
1926 was the development of musical short films. Vitaphone shorts were produced by the Warner Bros and featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. The shorts were about six minutes long and featured art deco style animations and backgrounds combined with film of the performer singing the song - these were argued to be the earliest music videos.
1930s was when animation was introduced into a series of sing-along cartoons called Screen Songs. These became popular as they invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball". The cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on camera in live action segments during the cartoons.
Animated films by Walt Disney, e.g. Fantasia, which featured several interpretations of classical pieces, were built around music. Even the Warner Brothers cartoons initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming musical films.
Mid-1940s musicians had started to make short films for their songs some of which ended up in feature films. These films were said to be the ancestors of music videos.
One song films called Promotional Clips were another form of early music video and were made for the Panoram visual duke box. They were usually just the band on a movie-set bandstand, made for playing.
Soundies were also made which were another early version of music video. They were three minutes long and included short dance sequences.
From 1930 - 1950 classic Hollywood films were another precursor to music videos and this can be seen through well-known imitations of these Hollywood Films, for example Madonna's video for 'Material Girl' which was closely modelled on Jack Cole's staging of 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend' from the film Gentlemen prefer Blondes.
1957 Tony Bennett was filmed walking along The Serpentine in Hyde Park, London as his recording of 'Stranger in Paradise' was played and this film was distributed to and played by UK and US television stations. This was said to be one of the first played on TV.
1959 the term MUSIC VIDEO was introduced and the rise of popular music was tied in with the rise of TV, as the format allowed for many new stars to be exposed that previously would have been passed over by Hollywood.
Late 1950s the Scopitone visual duke box was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists. Its use spread to other countries and similar machines were patented, which increased the rise in music popularity.
1960s in Canada - Manny Pittson was the first to pre-record the music audio, went on location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-syncing, then edited the audio and video together later. Most music numbers were taped in studio on stage and the location shoot videos were to add variety.
Until the 1960s almost all videos had been in monochrome but pop promo film made by The Animals made videos more technical with the use of high quality colour, a lip-synced performance and the use of an edited sequence of tracking shots, closeups, and longshots as the performers walked around the set in choreographed moves.
1964 The Beatles produced their first feature film which contained a basic template that was then used for future feature films and musical sequences. It was shot in black and white and presented as a mock documentary. It exerted a huge influence on the style and visual vocabulary of the genre.
There are modern day features from past influences and Roger Ebert credits Richard Lester for his work with the Beatles film. Ebert says "Today when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all other trademarks of modern style, we are looking at the children of A Hard Day's Night'.
1965 The Beatles did a 2nd feature film which was much more lavish, filmed in colour in London and on international locations. It helped to develop narrative within videos and overall created a more complex template for music videos than the first had developed. This is arguably one of the prime archetypes - (an often repeated character type or representation which is instantly recognisable to an audience) - of modern performance-style music video, employing rhythmic cross-cutting, contrasting long shots and close-ups, and unusual camera shots and angles.
Also in 1965 The Beatles began making promotional clips for distribution and broadcast in other countries - primarily the USA - so they could promote their record releases without having to make an in-person appearance. Also clips began to be aired on UK TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Thank You Lucky Stars. This was the start of airing videos on television to promote them and gave artists that were not so well known the chance to get known.
Over the course of the next few years, location clips and colour became more elaborate in music videos. Also there was the minimising of the use of instruments and performance in videos and videos like 'Rain' by The Byrds became more stylised than The Beatles using rhythmic editing, slow motion shots and reversed film. Also the use of colour and monochrome became another effective techniques used by producers of music videos.
Early 1967 promo films were taken to a new level using techniques borrowed from underground and avant garde film, including reversed film and slow motion, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and colour filtering added in post production. It was a way of illustrating songs in an artful, impressionistic manner rather than just trying to simulate an idealised performance or depict a narrative or plot.
A convention of music videos is on screen lyrics. The 1966 monochrome clip for Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' shows Dylan standing in a city back alley, silently shuffling a series of large cue cards which bared key words for the song's lyrics.
'Song films' - often referred to as 'filmed inserts' at the time - were produced by UK artists so they could be screened on TV when the bands were not available to appear live.
Other forms of music video were made such as miniature comic movie video.
Many music videos around 1966 began to use narrative and contained plots. Also around this time many more special effects were being used such as sequences being sped up.
1967 started the production of the same music tracks with more than one video for the same track. One tended to contain more of the band performing and the other tended to be more narrative. The Moody Blues were one of the first bands to do this.
As narrative within music videos developed more, some of the narrative became more harsh for example the 1968 anti-war single 'The Unknown Solider' by The Doors, which contained specially filmed footage of the group - including the depiction of a mock execution by firing squad - with extensive intercutting of stock footage, including graphic footage of the carnage of the Vietnam War.
The local pop scene in Australia and New Zealand were quick to pick up on British and American trends and by 1967 bands were creating early music videos for their songs.
Also in 1967 The Rolling Stones started to use real crime in their music videos along with special effects. Many artists today have been involved in some sort of drug use but this was also the case back then. The clip 'We Love You' by The Rolling Stones featured speeded up footage of the group recording in a studio (including several shots of an extremely stoned Brian Jones), intercut with a mock trial that clearly alludes to the drug prosecutions of members of the band.
After 1969 the independent movie clips came out of fashion with psychedelic music and style. Bands preferred performing in TV shows which themselves became visually more attractive. Some artists were featured in straightforward documentaries.
Between 1971 and 1974 there was the animation of current hits for comedy programmes. The animator then went on to self-produce animated videos for artists.
Promotional clips continued to grow in importance with television programmes starting to mix concert footage with clips incorporating camera tricks, special effects and dramatizations of song lyrics. Concert films were made during the early 1970s using new techniques such as rhythmic cross-cutting.
Surf films are notable for their innovative combinations of image and music featuring sequences of specially filmed surfing footage, carefully edited against long music tracks with no accompanying dialogue.
1972 saw the cooperation of bands with film makers.
Music videos were made on a low budget and opportunities like rehearsals were ceased to record the footage and often this was recorded within a day or two whereas music videos today can take weeks if not months with the technology available.
1974 - 1980 was the beginnings of music television.
Australia - used TV shows such as countdown to promote and show music videos and it was significant in helping to develop and popularize the music video genres in Australia and other countries.
1981 MTV was introduced in the US where music videos from Australia were aired.
As countdown gained popularity it was found that music clips were becoming important in music marketing. When it became very successful similar programmes were aired in 22 other countries.
Countdown was able to present regular live studio performances by local and visiting acts and lack of resources of rival shows for live performance mean that music videos were exclusive to them.
UK - British TV show Top of the Pops (TOTP) began playing music videos in the 1970s. However the BBC placed strict limits on which music videos they were allowed to show meaning that the ones they did show got repeated and so increased that songs sales.
1975 queen shot and edited their music video for TOTP on videotape.
US - There were many groups in the US that self produced their music videos. One of the videos made by American band Devo was said to be the first to use computer and traditional animation.
Video Hall Concert was the first nationwide video music programming on American Television predating MTV by three years. One US programme was the first to showcase videos as an art form.
1980 a New Zealand group were the first in the world to produce a complete set of promo clips for each song on the album and to market these on video cassette. This was followed a year later by the first American video album.
1981 awards started to be given out for music videos.
1981 - 1991 Music videos go mainstream
In 1981 MTV launched 24 hour music. With this new music outlet, music videos would by the mid-1980s grow to play a central role in popular music marketing.
Key innovation in the development of music videos were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video recording and editing equipment and the development of visual effects. The advent of high-quality colour video recorders and portable video cameras coincided with the DIY ethos of music videos. This enabled many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply.
In this period, directors and the acts they worked with began to explore and expand the form and style of genre. More sophisticated effects were used and mixing film and video and adding a storyline and plot were used. The main intentions were to promote the artist.
The most successful and influential music video was Micheal Jackson's 'Thriller' in 1983 which cost $500000 to film. This video set new standards for production.
MTV by 1987 was launched all around the world showing music videos from all over the world.
In 1988 MTV helped to bring hip-hop to a mass audience for the first time.
1992 - 2004 Rise of Directors
In 1992 directors were made known to the audience on MTV through adding them into the introductory titles of the video. This reflected the fact that music videos had become stylised to particular directors and this helped them to get more work.
2005 - present Internet becomes video friendly
Music videos today are available on the Internet. The release of YouTube in 2005 and myspace in 2007 has allowed online artists to seek success.YouTube was prevented from file sharing.
The Internet has become the primary place for music video marketing and facilities like Apple's itunes have allowed users to buy and download music videos on an Apple ipod.
In 2010, MTV dropped the Music Television tagline from their logo in response to their increased commitment to non-scripted reality programming and other youth-orientated entertainment.
